FOOTBALL DEPARTMENT UPDATE | March 1

by Warren Parker, Football Operations Manager

2023 PLAYER MOVEMENT

KEY ADDITIONS
ZACHARY HILL
Key Forward/Key Defender | 26yr-old | 192cm | 90kgs
From: Centrals (PFNL) | Perth (WAFL)
Career WAFL Matches: 55

JAMES STURROCK
Defender/Midfielder | 24yr-old | 185cm | 79kgs
From: Peel Thunder (WAFL)
Career WAFL Matches: 39

NOTABLE ADDITIONS
Thomas Amos - returns from study commitments in 2023
Joshua Underwood - HBL (SWFL) | West Coast (WAFL)
Kade Lines – West Coast (PFL)
Bailey Hyne – Ocean Ridge (PFL)
Jack Brockliss – Mt Lawley (PFL)

GRADUATING COLTS: Xavier Milner (Busselton), Darcy Craven (Bridgetown), William Cassidy (Augusta/Margaret River), Mitch Miller (Augusta/Margaret River), Bailey Harbour (Morley & Mt Hawthorn), Bailey Maxwell (Deanmill), Tyler Lindberg (Busselton), Lucas Kemp (Busselton), Brody Delaney (Busselton), Alexio Yiannakis (Coolbinia), Jude Mazzucchelli (Dunsborough), Harry Micallef (Noranda), Mitchell Williams (Noranda), Jamie Hawes (Coolbinia/Mt Hawthorn)

KEY LOSSES Kade Dittmar – Central Districts (SANFL)

COACHING ADDITIONS
Ryan Lasscock (Senior Assistant Coach) – acquired after moving on from coaching the WAFL Colts at West Perth for the last 7 Seasons.
Michael Pratt (Head of Player Development) – promoted to the Senior Program after coaching the East Perth WAFL Colts in 2023.
Josh Imms (Reserves Assistant Coach) – acquired from Wanneroo (PFL) after coaching their A-Grade League side in 2023.
Jacob Smith (Head of Conditioning) – promoted to the Senior Program after 3 seasons with the East Perth WAFL Colts Program.
Ashby Smith (Head of Strength) – acquired to head up our Strength Program for the 2024 season.

UPCOMING EVENTS & SCHEDULE

PRESEASON MATCH 1 | ROYALS v LIONS – Saturday 9th March at Sullivan Logistics Stadium

PRESEASON MATCH 2 | THUNDER v ROYALS – Saturday 16th March at Lane Group Stadium

PRESEASON MATCH 3 | TIGERS v ROYALS (RESERVES) – Saturday 23rd March at Revo Fitness Stadium

WAFL SEASON LAUNCH – Thursday 21st March (7:00pm) at East Perth Members Bar. Free event, cash bar available and all welcome. See the squad announced, meet the new players and coaches, and enjoy a night at the club in anticipation of Round 1.

ROUND 1 | BULLDOGS v ROYALS – Saturday 30th March at Fremantle Community Bank Oval

OFFSEASON/PRESEASON SUMMARY – Warren Parker (Football Operations Manager)

I’m not sure too many clubs would come out at this stage of the preseason saying anything less than optimistic cliche’s which should lead to on & off field success in 2024. So, I’ll do my best to avoid that in this update and just give you a bit of what’s been happening in Football over the last few months as we inch closer to Round 1.

2023 was a step forward for the squad which resulted in our first League Finals appearance since 2018. Although the Elimination Final did not go our way, we reflect on the season as a positive one and something to build upon going forward.

The 2023 additions of ex-AFL listed players in Mitch Crowden (2023 F.D. Book Medal Winner), Harrison Macreadie & Tom North certainly paid dividends as did the addition of more unheralded players like Liam Tedesco, Alex Pearce, Zach Raykos and Riley Saunders (2023 Eric Smith Medal Winner) who all had good debut seasons at the club and have quickly become favourites at the Royals.

Strong individual seasons from Hamish Brashaw (2023 Sandover Medallist) along with his midfield buddies Angus Schumacher and Angus Scott, Stan Wright and Nick Robertson in defence and several emerging young forwards in Sam Van Diemen, Mitch Schofield and Tom Graham give us confidence that the list is building and will continue to grow moving forward.

With that in mind, player retention became the main objective of our off-season. We’ve focussed heavily over the last 3-4 seasons on recruiting A-Grade quality players and characters to build a list capable of competing with the WAFL’s top clubs. We feel that there is plenty of growth in this group and another season of playing together will see benefits both on & off field.

I’m pleased to say that we did achieve this, and our core will be returning for the 2024 season with the exception of Kade Dittmar, who has relocated to South Australia and will play with Central Districts in the SANFL. We wish him all the best in his football journey moving forward.

We were also aggressive in targeting several experienced recruits as we continue to build depth in the squad. Zachary Hill (26) who played 55 WAFL Matches at Perth between 2018-2022 joins the squad to strengthen our Key Forward/Defender stocks while James Sturrock (24), a former State 18s Squad Member with 39 WAFL Matches of experience has transferred from Peel Thunder and will play a role across halfback and through the midfield.

These additions along with several players coming in via the Perth Football League and the promotion of a talented young core of Colts players (see player movement above) has given the squad some quality depth which is important when it comes to on-field result at both League and Reserves level.

Ross McQueen returns for his 2nd season in charge, and we’ve been able to add to our coaching staff in the form of Ryan Lasscock, Michael Pratt, and Josh Imms who bring experience and quality to their roles and complement our established talented coaching group. We’ve also seen a change in our High-Performance team with Jacob Smith and Ashby Smith (not related) now heading up Strength & Conditioning in leu of Sean Connolly who has departed the club. A big thanks to Sean and his family for their commitment and contributions over 2 season and we wish them all the best.

We started preseason training back in late October and after 17 weeks of programming, we’re itching to get into Preseason games and the season proper. Subiaco, Peel Thunder, and Claremont will set the tone for us over the next 3 weeks in preseason matches and we’re looking forward to testing ourselves against these quality opposition as we prepare for Round 1 v South Fremantle on 30th March.

We’ve been lucky enough to avoid any major injuries so far this preseason and players like Tom Graham and Scott Jones who missed majority of the 2023 season have both been training well and looking to impact in a big way in 2024.

Harrison Macreadie, Tom North, Angus Schumacher, Michael Randall, and Sam Van Diemen, just to name a few, have all had strong preseasons which we are confident will translate to strong seasons in 2024. As a group we’ve been focussing heavily on building our conditioning and work in the gym which has seen the squad collectively post improved testing numbers across the board from previous season.

And from a game plan perspective, our group are certainly more advanced than this time last season in terms of playing together and knowing how we want to move the ball and defend the opposition.

We’re yet to see a ball bounced and anything can happen as we’ve seen time and time again in WAFL football, but we’re hungry as a club to replicate the successes of 2023 and build upon it as we strive to not only make finals but win finals in 2024.

We’re looking forward to seeing all of you Loyal Royals over the course of the season and we appreciate the support that you show the club and the players every season, both in person and from afar.